Background and career
Malik JonMikal Beasley ( mə-LEEK; born November 26, 1996) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Santurce Crabbers of the Baloncesto Superior Nacional (BSN). He played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Denver Nuggets, Minnesota Timberwolves, Utah Jazz, Los Angeles Lakers, Milwaukee Bucks, and Detroit Pistons. Beasley attended Saint Francis School in Alpharetta, Georgia, where he was a four-star recruit. He played college basketball for the Florida State Seminoles. Beasley had a standout freshman season at Florida State, earning freshman-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) honors after averaging 15.6 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. He led the team in scoring and helped lead the Seminoles to a 20–14 record and berth in the NIT Tournament. Beasley declared for the 2016 NBA draft following this freshman season. The Nuggets selected Beasley with the 19th overall pick in the 2016 draft. Beasley saw limited minutes off the bench his first two seasons but took on a larger role in his third year, averaging over 11 points in 81 games played. After three and a half seasons with the Nuggets, Beasley was traded to the Timberwolves in February 2020. He had the highest scoring output of his career in his first season and a half with the Timberwolves, averaging 19.9 points over 51 games. He played for four more NBA teams before being accused of illegal sports betting in 2025. On June 29, 2026, Beasley was indicted on sports gambling charges by federal prosecutors at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York.
Beasley attended Saint Francis School in Alpharetta, Georgia. As a senior, he averaged 22.2 points, 6.9 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 1.9 steals, and 0.6 blocks, earning the Class 1A Player of the Year of the state of Georgia and an All-State Class A First Team. He attended high school with Kobi Simmons, Kaiser Gates, and Jacob Davis (Birmingham–Southern College football player). Regarded as a four-star recruit by Rivals.com, Beasley committed to Florida State University over offers from UConn, UCLA, Wake Forest, Oregon, and others.
As a freshman for the Florida State Seminoles in 2015–16, Beasley averaged 15.6 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 1.5 assists in 29.8 minutes per game over 34 games. He was subsequently named to the Atlantic Coast Conference's all-freshman team, and ranked eighth in the conference in free throw percentage (.813) and 10th in field-goal percentage (.471). On March 21, 2016, Beasley declared for the NBA draft, forgoing his final three years of college eligibility. He was the first player in Florida State's basketball history to leave as a one-and-done prospect.
Following the conclusion of the 2015–16 season, Beasley had surgery to repair a stress fracture in his right leg. Because of this, he did not participate in pre-draft workouts. Despite having medical concerns entering the 2016 NBA draft, Beasley was selected with the 19th overall pick by the Denver Nuggets. On August 9, 2016, he signed his rookie scale contract with the Nuggets. Beasley appeared in just two of the Nuggets' first seven games of the season, and managed under eight minutes of action and failed to score in those two games. He had a breakthrough game on November 10, 2016, scoring 12 points in 15 minutes off the bench in a 125–101 loss to the Golden State Warriors. During his rookie season, Beasley had multiple assignments with the Sioux Falls Skyforce of the NBA Development League, pursuant to the flexible assignment rule. On February 1, 2019, Beasley had a career-high 35 points in a win over the Houston Rockets.
On February 5, 2020, Beasley was traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves in a four-team, 12-player trade. After the trade to Minnesota, Beasley received the starting job and his scoring output drastically increased. In 14 games with the Timberwolves, he averaged 20.7 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 1.9 assists per game while starting all 14 games. On November 27, 2020, Beasley re-signed with the Timberwolves on a reported four-year, $60 million contract. On February 25, 2021, Beasley was suspended for 12 games as a result of a guilty plea in a criminal case. At the time of the suspension, he was averaging a career-high 20.5 points per game and shooting 40% from 3-point range. The Timberwolves were a league-worst 7–26. On March 5, 2022, Beasley broke the Timberwolves franchise record for most three-pointers made in a single season, surpassing Kevin Love's 190. He held the Timberwolves franchise record for most made three-pointers in a season, with 240 until the 2024–2025 regular season in which Anthony Edwards made 320 three-pointers. Four days later, he made a franchise record 11 three-pointers in a 132–102 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder. His 33 points in that game stands as the most points in an NBA game made exclusively from three-point shots. On April 16, 2022, during Game 1 of the first round of the playoffs, Beasley scored a playoff career-high 23 points in a 130–117 win over the Memphis Grizzlies.
On July 6, 2022, Beasley was traded, alongside Patrick Beverley, Jarred Vanderbilt, Leandro Bolmaro, the draft rights to Walker Kessler, four future first round picks and a pick swap, to the Utah Jazz in exchange for Rudy Gobert. On October 19, Beasley made his Jazz debut, logging 15 points and five rebounds in a 123–102 win over the Denver Nuggets.
